Editorial: Wisconsin needs to crack down on drunken drivers

Wednesday

Jun 24, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 24, 2009 at 2:13 PM

Like an alcoholic who vows to merely cut down drinking, not stop, Wisconsin claims it’s getting tougher on drunken drivers. But it hasn’t sworn off the real problem, the double martini of legislative apathy: Wisconsin is the only state in the Union that still punishes first-time drunken drivers with a traffic citation, not a criminal charge.

Like an alcoholic who vows to merely cut down drinking, not stop, Wisconsin claims it’s getting tougher on drunken drivers. But it hasn’t sworn off the real problem, the double martini of legislative apathy: Wisconsin is the only state in the Union that still punishes first-time drunken drivers with a traffic citation, not a criminal charge.

And it isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Wisconsin lawmakers last week moved forward with a measure that would require repeat offenders to install an ignition interlock on their cars and expands options for treatment rather than jail time.

We’re all for treatment. We also favor the ignition interlocks, which were used in Illinois for the first time this year. Drivers have to blow into the devices and register a near-to-sober blood alcohol before their cars start.

Wisconsin, however, is missing the point even on these. Their ignition interlocks would be ordered only for repeat offenders. Unless the state gets tough on first-time offenders, too, it won’t send the right message to residents who choose to drink and drive.

The alcoholic beverage industry — a strong lobby in a state defined by binge drinking, bars and breweries — blames the drunken driving problem mostly on repeat offenders. Not true.

In Wisconsin and elsewhere, the majority of impaired-driving deaths involve someone with no prior drunken driving record.

A June 10 Wall Street Journal article told the sorry tale. While someone with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 or higher is 400 times more likely to die in a crash than a sober driver, the risk for someone just over the legal limit is alarmingly high, too. A driver with blood alcohol between 0.1 and 0.14 is 50 times more likely to die in an accident than a sober driver. (The legal limit for intoxication while driving in Illinois is 0.08 blood alcohol.)

So much for the theory that it’s only the stumbling-down drunks who present a problem on the road.

We don’t know about all of you, but we would prefer to get the 50-times-more-dangerous drunks off the road, as well as the 400-times-more-dangerous drunks.

It takes a long time to nab inebriated drivers anyway. Researchers say there is just one drunken driving arrest for every 80 to 300 trips drunken drivers take.

Wisconsin lawmakers are still in the blind spot. Sad. To top it off, their state is among a dozen that won’t allow sobriety checkpoints. (Illinois allows them.)

None of these tools is the perfect answer. Ignition interlocks can be tricked; the drunken driver can use another car. Roadblocks are costly in terms of police time and resources.

However, prevention is worth the effort. Deaths from impaired driving in the U.S. dropped 4 percent in 2007. The same year in Wisconsin, deaths increased 2 percent from the year before.

The spike in fatalities was one of the reasons The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published its “Wasted in Wisconsin” series, the product of a year’s investigation. “Beer for beer and shot for shot, when all 50 states belly up to the bar, few can hold their own with Wisconsin. Alcohol runs in our blood. It’s at taverns, fests, Brewers games. Wisconsin is famous for its outgoing spirit, but getting home can be deadly.”

With that kind of culture, it was no wonder Wisconsin’s attorney general didn’t resign in 2004 after her drunken driving arrest. Three days after the arrest, Peg Lautenschlager received a standing ovation from sheriffs.

Can that be any surprise in a state with a law allowing minors to drink at bars if a parent or legal guardian says it’s OK?

We’re happy Wisconsin’s willing to move off dead-drunk center with its weak DUI laws, but make no mistake: These are baby steps.

Rockford Register Star

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